This season the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) altered the Bonus Point System (BPS) that is used to allocate bonus points in the game. As well as BPS points for scoring, assisting and defensive duties, a greater prevalence was placed on crossing ability. The consensus was this would benefit full-backs. With six weeks’ data now available, this article aims to see whether that is true and which players are this season’s bonus magnets so far.
BPS Allocation
First a quick recap on some of the key attributes defenders need to gain BPS:
- Â Â Â 12 BPS for a goal
- Â Â Â 9Â BPS for an assist
- Â Â Â 12 BPS for keeping a clean sheet
- Â Â Â 1 BPS for each open play cross, every three clearances, blocks or interceptions (CBI), every three recovers, each key pass, each successful tackle and each successful dribble.
- Â Â Â 3 BPS creating a big chance where the receiving player should score.
- Â Â Â 9 BPS 90% pass completion
- Â Â Â 6 BPS 80 to 89% pass completion
- Â Â Â 3 BPS 70 to 79% pass completion
- Â Â -3 BPSÂ for conceding a penalty
- Â Â -3 BPS for making an error that leads to a goal
- Â Â -1 conceding a foul
- Â Â -1 shot off target.
From this it is clear that goals are important but not essential for defenders in terms of bonus points. Midfielders get 18 BPS for a goal and forwards get 24 BPS. Defenders do also get 12 BPS for keeping a clean sheet, which means they have to score and keep a clean sheet to get the same allocation as a forward who scores one goal.
Other attributes are clearly needed to get bonus so pass completion, crossing, creating chances and doing well in terms of CBI are important factors in our search for a backline bonus point magnet.
The Data
Top 12 defenders – Bonus Points | Top 12 defenders – BPS allocation |
Leighton Baines | Branislav Ivanovic |
Branislav Ivanovic | Cesar Azpilicueta |
Jose Fonte | Ashley Williams |
Ryan Shawcross | Leighton Baines |
Eric Dier | Ryan Betrand |
Michael Duff | Nathaniel Clyne |
Cesar Azpilicueta | Jose Fonte |
Phil Jagielka | Craig Dawson |
Nathaniel Clyne | Eric Dier |
Eric Pieters | Jason Shackell |
Ashley Williams | Phil Jagielka |
Daryl Janmaat | Neil Taylor |
The table above shows clearly that full-backs are benefiting this year and those points from crossing and dribbling are playing their part. In each top 12, seven are full-backs. In terms of BPS Ashley Williams is the only centre-back representation in the top five.
But this only tells part of the story. In comparison with midfielders and forwards, defenders are still under-represented. Baines is the only defender to feature in the top ten overall for bonus points. Defenders do better in terms of BPS, though, suggesting more will join him. Ivanovic, Azpilicueta and Baines are in the overall BPS top ten, in addition to Ashley Williams. Once again, Ashley Williams is the only centre-back represented, providing further evidence that full-backs reign supreme.
Key Players
For this section I’ll take a look in detail at Baines, Ivanovic, Williams and Azpilicueta to assess why they are performing well in terms of both bonus and BPS. It is this key group of bonus magnets I’m interested in as their high rank in terms of BPS indicates they will be more consistent in terms of gaining bonus points. It also shows they are already successful in converting their high BPS into actual bonus points.
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Clean sheets play their part for Williams in terms of BPS, with Swansea having three so far. He also does well in terms of CBI, sitting in second place overall for defenders this season. With an overall pass completion rate of 89.5% it is clear this is another key factor in his bonus allocation. But poor crossing and dribbling stats show that for centre-backs like Williams to gain bonus points they will need to excel in terms of passing, CBI and clean sheets.
Leighton Baines (Everton)
Baines is making up for not gaining 12 BPS for a clean sheet with crosses – Everton have only one clean sheet so far. He has registered 23 crosses this term, fifth best for defenders. Passing has also helped as he has a 85.2% pass completion rate. In terms of chances created he is top among defenders, another notable feather in his cap. Baines’ success in terms of BPS and converting this into bonus points is clearly due to his excellent distribution. He has also scored once, adding another 12 BPS to his tally. For full-backs like Baines to secure bonus they must excel in attack.
Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
Goals and clean sheets are Ivanovic’s key weapon and success in BPS. His two goals and two clean sheets total 48 BPS and have enabled him to rival Diego Costa’s BPS tally and secure bonus points. A pass completion of 82.8% also helps, as does his distribution – he sits second behind Baines in terms of chance creation for defenders. Attacking threat and strong clean sheet potential over the season make him another notable bonus magnet for 2014/15.
Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
The Chelsea left-back’s inclusion surprised me as he is no match for Baines or Ivanovic in terms of attacking display. Two clean sheets helps but is not enough on its own. So why is Azpilicueta performing so well in terms of BPS and bonus allocation? The answer appears to lie in his all-round display. He is quite simply a jack of all trades and master of none, picking up BPS across the board. A pass completion rate of 85.4% helps. This is good but still behind Terry and Cahill, who are missing out on bonus this season. In terms of chances created he is half as effective as Ivanovic, which is once again good compared to other defenders, but not startling. He is also third among Chelsea defenders, behind Terry and Ivanovic, in terms of tackling success. With just six crosses as well he is occasionally offering threat, perhaps just enough to impress the BPS, while going unnoticed by most Fantasy managers. In second spot in terms of BPS among defenders, he is perhaps the most intriguing of our bonus point magnets and one to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.
Conclusion
What is undeniable is that full-backs are benefiting this year from the change in BPS allocation. But for them to succeed they need to excel in passing and distribution. Centre-backs face an uphill struggle to match their full-back colleagues and they rely heavily on clean sheets. They also have to excel at CBI and passing to make up for their lack of attacking threat. It is clear that full-backs are also a better investment as arguably they can rack up attacking threat and distribution BPS whatever the opposition, whereas centre-backs like Williams rely on a kind run of fixtures to gain clean sheets. When more attacking sides present themselves, Williams and other centre-backs will suffer far more in terms of bonus points than full-backs.
Azpilicueta is the one to monitor here. Playing for Chelsea, there are sure to be clean sheets over the season, but it is his overall good – but not startling – stats that make him the most impressive among our quartet of bonus point magnets. He shows that an all-round defender with occasional attacking threat can flourish under the change to the BPS, offering hope to Mr Averages everywhere.
9 years, 5 months ago
Be great if any other members of the community wanted to write about bonus. There are plenty more areas to look at, such as midfielders v forwards. Also how are goalkeepers doing this year. Hope it spurs some of our scribes to look at the issue of bonus points further.